More about those standardized CPS tests...

Chicago Public Schools is cutting back on some of its standardized tests. Making sense of which ones are going and which are staying and when — and what they mean — took me a good part of the day:

Confused yet?

Here’s a bit more about each of the tests in question, thanks to information collected from CPS, PURE, Raise Your Hand and the Illinois State Board of Education:

• ACCESS for English Language Learners — the state standardized test for English Language Learners given once a year, designed to measure English language learners’ social and academic proficiency in English. It assesses social and instructional English as well as the language associated with language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies within the school context across the four language domains. (Illinois required for K-12 ELL)
• BAS (Benchmark Assessment System) Common Core benchmarks taken three times a year for monitor growth and progress in literacy. (CPS optional for K-2)
• DIBELS The Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills are a set of procedures and measures for assessing the acquisition of early literacy skills from kindergarten through sixth grade. They are designed to be short (one minute) fluency measures used to regularly monitor the development of early literacy and early reading skills. DIBELS were designed for use in identifying children experiencing difficulty in acquisition of basic early literacy skills in order to provide support early and prevent the occurrence of later reading difficulties. (CPS optional for K-2)
• EPAS (EXPLORE in Grade 9, PLAN in Grade 10, and ACT in Grade 11) will be administered at the beginning and end of the school year. Student growth will be based on the difference in score between these pre- and post-tests. (CPS required 9-11)
• EXPLORE contains four curriculum-based assessments: English, Mathematics, Reading, and Science. The assessment is based on the major areas of high school and postsecondary instructional programs and measures the skills and knowledge needed for college success. Additionally, EXPLORE includes a career exploration component that stimulates students’ thinking about future plans and relates personal characteristics to career options. (CPS required for 9)
• IAA (Illinois Alternative Assessments) is the yardstick the state uses to measure the learning of students with the most significant cognitive disabilities and uses on demand tasks aligned to the Illinois Learning Standards. The IAA is based on alternate achievement standards in reading, mathematics, science and writing at the grades corresponding to ISAT and PSAE. (Illinois required 3-8 and 11)
• ISAT (Illinois Standards Achievement Test) measures the achievement of students in reading and mathematics in grades three through eight and science in grades four and seven. (Illinois required for grades 3-8 )
• ISEL (Illinois Snapshots of Early Literacy) are sets of standardized, individually administered measures of early literacy development for grades K, 1, and 2. They consist of brief measures of performance which can be used to regularly monitor the development of early literacy skills. (CPS option for K-2).
• mClass Math is early assessment software combined with universal screening and progress monitoring. (CPS optional for K-2)
• NWEA MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) meausres whether students are meeting grade-level learning and year-to-year growth expectations. Factor in teacher, principal and school evaluations. (CPS required for 2-8)
• NWEA MPG essentially the MAP for primary grades. (CPS optional for K-2)
• PSAE (Prairie State Achievement Examination) measures the achievement of grade 11 students in reading, mathematics, and science. The spring 2013 PSAE included three components: (1) the ACT, which includes the ACT battery of four multiple-choice tests (English, mathematics, reading, and science), (2) an ISBE-developed science assessment, and (3) Applied Mathematics and Reading for Information. ACT growth a factor in teacher, principal and school evaluation. (Illinois required for 11)
• REACH Performance Tasks are the primary way to measure growth for teachers who do not teach traditionally tested subjects and grades, and feed into that teacher’s evaluation. A performance task is used to assess demonstration of mastery, or progress towards mastery, of a particular skill or standard determined most critical in the course of an academic year (or student learning objective). Growth in performance will be measured by subtracting a student’s performance on the beginning-of-year PT pre-test from his/her performance on the end of year PT post-test. (CPS required for K-12)
• STAR Used in place of NWEA or EPAS to measure growth of students in Alternative Schools; also a factor in teacher, principal and school evaluations. (CPS required for 7-12)
• STEP Literacy Assessment is a developmental literacy assessment, instructional tool, and data management system that defines the pathway and tracks the progress of pre-kindergarten through third grade students as they learn to read using research-based milestones, developed by the University of Chicago Urban Education Institute. (CPS optional for K-2)
• TRC (Text Reading Comprehension) (CPS optional for K-2)